If that were my engine, I'd use a quart of ATF or MMO with an oil change. Use a good filter. Change the oil often, every 1000 miles or so. Use a good filter. The local Fred Meyer store has Purolator Pure One filters for a decent price. Also, be sure your thermostat is at least 180, preferrably 195 degrees. That will help prevent sludge. When you change the oil be running the engine right up to the point you drain the oil; shut the engine off and drain the oil immediately to get the sludge out. Use cheap oil until you get it clean enough, then switch to a good grade oil. Don't use 10w40. The viscosity extenders in 10w40 break down easily when hot. Use 10w30. I've cleaned up a very old Toyota engine like this. I'm working on a very old (1954) Ford truck to get it clean.
Best of luck,

Paul Menten

 

ok, at next oil change add a quart of ATF and let idle for 15 minutes. change oil and filter and run drive normally then change filter after about 50 miles or so.
After or before oil change run the engine so it is warm and raise idle speed to about 1500 RPM and SLOWLY pour a glass of water into the carb a little at a time to prevent hydrolock to the engine.(basically when there is enough liquid in a cylinder to prevent the piston from going all the way up and stopping in an instant)
I did this to my 400 about two years ago and the carbon deposits were pretty bad. Since the engine needed a rebuild anyway, so I figured why not try it. Long story short: valves were cleaner than they should be with 100,000. Carbon was about as bad as one would expect from an engine with 40,000 miles. The valvesprings even had clean spots where the carbon used to be.

 

Hey Zip, I hope you washed your bike and gear really good. Same thing happened to me once. Was riding along then stopped and found myself surrounded by the poison oak. No problem, I covered from head to toe in riding gear, I'll be okay. Wrong, I had the poison oak oil all over everything, bike, gear, everything. It sucked, I know how you feel. Doc put me on steroids just to bring the swelling down a bit. Got reinfected a little when I started washing my stuff a few weeks later.

TK, don't sugar coat it, tell us how you really feel about amsoil. Never used to stuff myself, but it seems that emotions run either hot or cold when the stuff is brought up.

 

 

i had a 78 cj5 with the I-6 mtr. o found heavy and i mean the kind of carbon build-up you see on your bbq after a full summer without cleaning it. WOW !!!. anyway back to the subject. i was told to run mogas in the oil for about 5-10 min. i did and it really cleaned it up. my boss runs atf in his oil every other oil change. his father ran it in all his high mileage vehicles and he got 200k from his rigs. just my 2 cents worth.

 

I've found that a good way to clean out an engine is to use diesel rated engine oil. Look for the CH-4 or CI-4 ratings. It has more detergents in it and will clean out sludge, as well as preventing more sludge from forming. I think this approach is safer than pouring kerosene in.

 

Change your oil more often with a quality dino 5w30 or 10w30 at three months or 3,000 miles, along with the oil filter. Rislone is excellent at removing varnish deposits. (Soaking rusted or frozen metal parts in a small tupperwear container of Rislone overnight, come right off, when WD40, Liquid wrench treatments have failed. Try it, you'll be amazed) Marvel Mystery Oil is also good. Stay away from the straight kerosense flushes in older engines. You are asking for trouble, oil pump clogging etc. On a fully warmed up carb engine, mix up a spray bottle (like a Windex bottle) of MMO, Dot 3 brake fluid, and water. Equal amounts. Spray into carb, choke opening. Rev engine on occasion. This will clean deposits off of valves and piston tops. I ususlly would do this just before changing the oil and filter. Once you determine the old engine is running clean, you don't have to do this. Lastly, always run a 195 degree thermostat if at all possible. That alone, keeps old engines clean and efficient. Sludge rides, varnish slackers, are usually the result of using 160 - 180 degree themostats. Or people who neglect the cooling system, car or truck runs hot, so a cooler themostat is installed or even not used at all. That's what causes engines with deposits. PCV valves, change once a year whether it needs it or not...

 

Way back in 1976, I had a 70 El Camino that had a strong 350 in it . It had 50K on it when I bought it, and it run excellent. I changed the oil /filter every 3k miles. As a preventive measure to not get "sludge" in my engine, I got the bright idea to buy one can of five minute "engine flush". Within 3 months , my 350 started puffing blue smoke at acceleration, something it had never done. I asked a engine mechanic buddy of mine what could have caused that all of a sudden. When I told him of the engine flush, he said " Not good". I asked why not ? He said when engines are broken in, the break in oil goes in to the finely machined tolerances between all the bearings etc, and bonds to the metal on those close toleranced parts, providing lubrication even on cold start ups. He said when I used that "kerosene" , it washed that bonded lubrication off of the internal moving parts, along with any sludge. His opinion only of course, but it made sense to me. I will never again use a engine "flush" on any of my engines,